Similar and Different: Professional Identity and the Experience of Partial Role Transitions

Abstract

In this study, we sought to understand how individuals with professional identities experience opportunities for role transitions. Drawing on 47 semi- structured interviews and direct observation conducted at a home healthcare company over a 7 month period, we employed grounded theory techniques to reveal the motivations underlying the decisions to undergo partial or complete transitions into administrative roles as well as the forms of identity work that facilitated the adjustment to new roles. Nurses who underwent complete transitions into administrative roles redefined their professional identity such that it became compatible with their new role. Those who made partial transitions into administrative roles satisfied different needs as they acted out their nursing and administrative roles, acting in accordance with their professional identity in their nursing position and fulfilling separate needs while conducting administrative work. The ability of these partially transitioned professionals to satisfy...